What exactly had happened over these years?
The monster before him was merely a Tier 4 creature. Judging from its aura, it was only at the Monarch rank.
And yet—
Even Monarch-rank monsters could speak now?
No…
That wasn't entirely true.
Back when he encountered the Bloodsource Monarch, it had also been capable of speech despite being only a Tier 3 Monarch.
Whether a monster could speak or think was related to rank to some extent—
But not entirely.
It was just that…
These toad-headed creatures rising one after another from the water—
Every single one of them was chattering endlessly.
Since when had intelligent monsters capable of speech become so common?
What exactly had happened during the time he was gone?
Today's Future Simulation uses: 4.
Kanzaki Rei slowly closed his eyes.
Then opened them again.
One complete simulation finished.
He had already gained a basic understanding of the surrounding situation.
"Human, didn't you hear what I said?"
"Don't fucking pretend to be deaf. You've got a death wish!"
Kanzaki Rei's gaze remained cold as he casually pointed a finger.
BOOM!
The sea roared violently!
With a single finger strike, a massive crater exploded into the ocean depths.
「Heavenly Flow — Third Form: Phantom Strike · Condense」
Tens of thousands of attacks converged into a single point.
That casual strike was like a colossal sword stabbing deep into the sea itself, blasting open a bottomless abyss.
At the same time, Kanzaki Rei could feel the monster's life force vanish.
Its soul drifted upward into the sky—
Landing directly in his hand.
"So loud, yet your strength hasn't changed at all."
"For a moment, I thought ten years had passed and even Tier 4 monsters now possessed the strength of Level 8 Class Holders."
Kanzaki Rei's voice was calm and utterly emotionless.
He killed it casually.
He had no intention of extracting information from something like this.
A low-grade monster like that could never possess intelligence unavailable to others.
"HUMAN!"
"You've really gone insane!"
"Even the Kingdom of Moonveil has already submitted to us! You trespass upon our sacred territory and still dare kill one of our people?!"
"You're courting death!"
These monsters truly had become arrogant.
Now that Kanzaki Rei understood part of the situation, he could not help but feel a trace of sorrow.
Humanity had actually begun surrendering to monsters.
Vast regions of the Moon Sea had already fallen, becoming territories ruled by monsters.
And only two years ago, intelligent monsters had begun appearing in large numbers.
Some had even started taking humans as slaves.
Kanzaki Rei repeated calmly,
"Courting… death?"
"Ever since I arrived in this world, every monster that's spoken to me like that has already died."
Multicolored liquid slowly flowed down from Kanzaki Rei's right hand.
The droplets fell onto the ocean surface, releasing crackling explosions.
Origin Magic — Primal Infusion.
Drip—
Only a few drops of elemental essence fell into the sea.
Then—
A violent reaction instantly erupted!
During the long passage of time, Kanzaki Rei had proven something else as well.
Through Primordial Forbidden Magic—
It truly was possible to comprehend Origin Magic.
And it wasn't only freaks like Izparut who could master multiple different Origin Magics simultaneously.
Kanzaki Rei himself could also comprehend a third Origin Magic even without relying on his talents.
And this—
Was his answer regarding the elements.
The elemental droplets spread.
In merely one second, the dark ocean across millions of kilometers had already been dyed into countless colors.
"What are you doing?!"
"Human, are you stupid?!"
The toad creatures below continued croaking noisily.
But the next moment—
Kanzaki Rei clenched one hand.
BOOM!
In an instant, the entire ocean erupted into violent turmoil!
Multicolored elemental forces surged skyward!
Meteorites rained down between heaven and earth!
Gigantic ice spikes burst upward in every direction!
Flames and magma roared wildly across the sea!
「Tier 6 Origin Magic — Primal Infusion」
It could also be regarded as a simplified version of Elemental Forbidden Magic.
It instantly transformed a designated region entirely into elemental matter—
Then unleashed every elemental spell of Tier 6 and below simultaneously.
Although it could not unleash Tier 9 spells like Elemental Kaleidoscope—
Its advantage lay in sustainability.
The mana cost of merely one Origin Magic—
Kanzaki Rei could afford that much.
As for Elemental Kaleidoscope—
At most, he could maintain it for ten seconds before his mana completely drained.
With a mere raise of his hand—
Everything was annihilated.
And below him—
The only survivor was a single remaining toad-tadpole creature.
Kanzaki Rei read the emotions within its eyes.
Fear.
Trembling.
Cowardice.
Regret.
Heh.
Even creatures like these possessed such emotions now.
It seemed that when they obtained intelligence, they had also inherited the flaws that came with sentience itself.
Whatever.
He would capture one for research during the journey.
Kanzaki Rei casually sealed the monster and stored it inside his storage pouch.
With the return of time—
His precious storage pouch had finally returned as well.
May 22, 5036.
After traveling across the ocean for some time, Kanzaki Rei did not use Phase Traversal too frequently.
Because throughout the journey, he was constantly gathering information.
He also saw many islands along the way.
These islands were places he had once visited repeatedly throughout the resetting timelines.
All of them had once existed near the Hollow Valley Region.
But now—
Either those islands had vanished completely—
Or they had been entirely occupied by monsters and transformed into monstrous nests.
Kanzaki Rei also visited Mishiruce.
That once prosperous continent had now deteriorated beyond recognition.
It too had fallen under monster occupation.
Yet strangely—
Very few human corpses could be found there.
Based on the clues he had gathered so far, Kanzaki Rei continued heading north.
The maps he once possessed no longer seemed usable.
Simply finding the correct route now required considerable effort.
After all, the Moon Sea was unimaginably vast.
Even with Phase Traversal, without a confirmed destination, finding land was still extremely difficult.
Fortunately—
Monsters were everywhere along the way.
From them, he could gather fragmented information little by little.
He roughly learned that humanity still possessed one kingdom that had not surrendered—
A nation still resisting the monsters of the Moon Sea.
Most human resistance forces had already fled there as well.
Many monsters were currently moving northward toward the Land of Moonwatch, preparing reinforcements to break through the Moon Sea's final defensive line and claim the entire Moon Sea for themselves.
In other words—
As long as he followed the monsters' movements northward—
He should eventually encounter living people again.
Actual living humans.
Nearly every creature encountered along the journey possessed intelligence.
But merely possessing intelligence did not necessarily mean they were smart.
Extracting information from them was extremely difficult.
Even after gaining sentience, their minds remained simplistic.
They were incapable of answering questions properly.
Nor did they necessarily choose the options most beneficial to themselves.
Flash—
After only two days—
Kanzaki Rei finally saw a holy white island in the distance.
The island radiated an immaculate purity.
The moonlight in the sky seemed to pour directly upon it.
That place—
Was the Land of Moonwatch.